Operation: Zero Tolerance

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Operation: Zero Tolerance was an event that transpired shortly after the Onslaught Saga in the Marvel Universe. It was a primary focus of most all of Marvel's mutant-centric titles (specifically those bearing an "X" in their title) throughout the summer of 1998.

1 Build-up to Operation: Zero Tolerance
- 1.1 Aftermath of the Onslaught Saga
- 1.2 The assassination of Graydon Creed
2 Operation: Zero Tolerance begins

[edit] Build-up to Operation: Zero Tolerance

[edit] Aftermath of the Onslaught Saga

Most of the core non-mutant superhero teams (the Fantastic Four, a number of Avengers and Bruce Banner), along with the surprising aid of Doctor Doom, in the Marvel universe "sacrificed" themselves in order to help destroy Onslaught by leaping into his body, which was comprised of raw energy at the time. The only superheroes who were left outside of Onslaught were all mutants who could not enter into Onslaught due to his ability to siphon their powers. Members of the X-Men were then left to physically attack Onslaught directly and eventually succeeded in destroying him and in the process, seemingly those who had leapt into his energy form as well.

[edit] The assassination of Graydon Creed

This led to a great amount of distrust being harboured toward all mutantkind. Shortly thereafter, Graydon Creed, a presidential candidate and outspoken proponent of mutant hatred, was assassinated by what was meant to look like an energy blast of some kind. This escalated humanity's festering feelings toward mutants.

The fallout of both of these events served as a springboard for the man known as Bastion to suggest to the government that he should begin a plan. In order to keep the nation safe from the growing mutant threat, Bastion's plan involved the capture and extermination of as many mutants as he could find.

[edit] Operation: Zero Tolerance begins

Bastion, along with the aid of his newly constructed Prime Sentinels, was given approval to implement this plan, which was dubbed "Operation: Zero Tolerance". He managed to capture a large number of the X-Men early on and was also able to seize control of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning (in the process gaining access to vital information regarding numerous mutants).